


Angela's Torment

by SaltySupport



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-24 16:22:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9770165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaltySupport/pseuds/SaltySupport
Summary: What happened before, during and shortly after the Swiss HQ explosion. How Reyes came to be.





	

Angela looked at the operation table and swallowed hard. She didn’t have to go on it, but someone had to.   
“Dr. Ziegler, are you sure? Can’t you get a guinea pig?” one of her assistants asked nervously, Annelise.   
“I’m not insulting Winston by using a chimp or an ape for an experiment,” Angela said indignantly, she greatly admired Winston, he was one of her best friends in Overwatch.   
“Well maybe not, but why not get me or Zhang to do it? You’re the one in charge, if this goes wrong, the whole project is doomed,” Annelise said quickly, she was barely out of college trying to get a PHD in nanotechnology.   
Zhang gave her a glare from where he sat in front of the computer.  
“There’s no way I’m risking either of your lives for my experiment, it’s my responsibility. Now please Annelise, this operation would be quite painful if done while I was awake,” Angela dryly pointed out. Annelise pursed her lips and injected the sedative into Angela’s arm.  
Angela settled down on the hospital bed, closing her eyes, she slipped into unconsciousness.

Morrison made his way down to the medical research labs. He hadn’t been there in a while, and he hadn’t heard from Ziegler for some time either. Silence with Ziegler usually meant she was buried in research. At least it got her off his back about Blackwatch, he wasn’t happy about it either.   
He entered the wing, there were a bunch of people in white coats walking around, looking at tablets, sipping coffee and exchanging quick chats in the halls. He walked up to the first researcher he found. “Excuse me, can you tell me where Dr. Ziegler is?” he asked him, he almost spat out his coffee at the sight of Morrison, this was one of Angela’s assistants, Zhang Yeung.   
“D-Dr. Ziegler isn’t really available to speak at the moment sir, maybe you should come back in… A couple of days?” he said with and uneasy smile.  
“A couple of days? Is she sick?” he asked, but even when she was sick Angela still showed up.  
“What? Uh… No, she’s here. She’s… In the ICU,” he cleared his throat, he checked his watch, “oh, I should get—”   
“Not so fast there, take me to Ziegler,” Morrison growled. Yeung nodded and took him to the ICU. What the hell was she doing in the ICU anyway? No one had been seriously injured last he had heard… Certainly not so badly injured that Angela herself was taking care of them.  
Yeung took him to one of the rooms and waited by the door, avoiding Morrison’s gaze. Morrison stared at Angela in the hospital bed with an oxygen mask on her face, she looked pale and thinner than usual.   
“Wait, so when you said Ziegler was in the ICU, you meant as a patient, not taking care of a patient?”   
“Yes sir,” Yeung said in a pitched voice.  
“Well, what the hell happened and why wasn’t I informed immediately?!” he snapped.  
“Dr. Ziegler said to wait a few days before she declared the experiment a success or a failure. And told us not to tell you anything until then,” the assistant was shrinking into his coat.  
“What experiment?” Morrison asked slowly.  
“Dr. Ziegler refused to use someone else as a test subject for the new Nanites she had been working on, she was sure it would work. The nanites are supposed to increase healing speed and capacity, could even bring someone back from the dead if they still had a few cells that are alive. So she got us to do it on her, she’s stable, but she hasn’t woken up so far,” he explained.  
“How long ago was the surgery?”   
“A week ago…” Yeung mumbled.  
Morrison sighed and brought his hand up to his face, he needed to check on Ziegler more if she was doing this kind of shit now.  
“Tell me when she wakes up,” he said tightly and left.   
“Yes sir,” Yeung called after him.

Angela woke up with a minor headache that quickly went away. She sat up, groaning and taking a mask off her face.   
“Dr. Ziegler! You’re finally awake,” she heard her assistant Annelise exclaim, Angela blinked a few times at her, she looked frantic and relieved. “How are you feeling? Are you in pain? Dizzy? Nauseous? Tired?” her rapid fire questions made Angela shake her head.  
“Slow down Annelise, what happened?” she asked.  
“After the surgery you wouldn’t wake up. It’s been a week and a half,” she looked so worried, Angela smiled at her.  
“Don’t worry Annelise, I’m feeling alright. Actually I can’t remember the last time I felt this good,” Angela flexed her fingers, despite being unconscious in a bed for a week, she felt like she could run a marathon.   
Zhang came in, “Dr. Ziegler! Thank God you’re awake! Strike Commander Morrison wanted to know the moment you were awake,” he said in relief, Angela smiled at him too, they were sweet.   
“Go tell Morrison then,” she sighed, she was probably going to get a lecture, like she usually did when she did something drastic on the battlefield. She went to the edge of the bed and stood up, Annelise tried to help her, but Angela waved her off, “I feel fine,” she told the young woman. She walked around the room, feeling fine, there was no sign of muscle degradation.   
“Annelise, will you pass me a surgical knife please?” Angela asked her, she frowned, but nodded and got the surgical knife from one of the tables. She gave it to Angela, Angela placed her hand over a bin and cut the palm of her hand with the knife.   
“Doctor!” Annelise gazed at her in shock, her blood dripped down into the bin, but she barely felt the pain. She looked at the wound and could see the skin repairing itself.  
“It worked Annelise, the Nanites are doing their job,” Angela grinned, Annelise went silent for a minute then jumped, whooping for joy.  
“We’re going to be able to save so many lives, no one else in Overwatch has to die!” she howled happily, Angela was endeared by her enthusiasm, but this technology had a way to go before it could be used on the field.   
Then Zhang came back with Morrison who looked ready to blow his top. Annelise stopped, looking embarrassed.  
“Angela, the hell were you thinking?” he snapped.  
“I was thinking I could save many lives with this,” she growled.  
“You could have killed yourself.”  
“I know Jack, I’m not stupid.”  
“Really? Because experimenting on yourself with technology you didn’t know would work and could possibly kill you is smart?”  
“Don’t be so cynical. It worked, and I’m fine. You think I would test this out if I were less than 99% sure that it would work?” she rolled her eyes at him, they rarely saw eye to eye. She barely accepted to join Overwatch in the first place, their methods were too violent, especially with the creation of Blackwatch. She keeps getting wounds to treat from down there, they weren’t pretty, and the bodies she got even worse. She’d thought of leaving when Blackwatch was created, but someone had to patch them up and keep an eye on them, and she’d grown quite fond of the people here too. She couldn’t leave.  
“Just don’t do something so stupid again! I’m keeping a closer eye on you and your experiments from now on!” he snarled and marched out.   
Angela sighed and turned to Zhang and Annelise, “now that that’s over. Someone get a gun and a camera.” 

Angela gasped to consciousness, pressing her hand against her chest. “That was unpleasant,” she rasped.  
“Dr. Ziegler, are you alright?” Zhang asked.  
“I’m fine, but I rather not get shot in the heart again in the name of science,” she croaked and stood up.   
“It took you less than a minute to revive, it’s amazing,” Annelise said in wonder while standing by the camera.   
“Does this mean you’re immortal? Because in my opinion you’ve been looking a bit younger Doc,” Zhang grinned at her.  
“No, if all my cells die, the Nanites would not be able to heal me,” Angela was still rubbing where she got shot, it felt so strange.  
“Awesome,” he said while nodding.  
They continued doing tests for the next few hours, but it was getting late, Zhang and Annelise would be heading home. She told them to stop after a while, they looked tired.  
“Now I should probably work on the Caduceus, the Nanites work fine to heal, but they stay too long and exhaust the subject much more than they should by lingering longer. I need to find a way to make them deteriorate faster,” Angela said while heading back to her lab. Work was never done.

Angela was working on the Nanites the Caduceus staff emitted, she thought she was nearly there, or at least she hoped. She heard someone come into the lab.  
“Have you slept since yesterday Dr. Ziegler?” Zhang asked.  
“No, I probably should have, but I’m so close. I don’t feel that tired really,” she said, still concentrating on her experiment.  
“I know you have the nanites Doctor, but maybe it’s better not to push it?” Annelise suggested nervously while coming in.  
“I’ll get some rest just as soon as I figure out what is wrong with the deterioration rate,” she just mumbled and went back to her work. She was so concentrated on it, she didn’t notice her gnawing hunger until Zhang called her name.   
She jumped up, “Doctor, you really should eat,” he told her.  
“Oh, yes, thank you Zhang,” she said and got out of the lab with him, they went down to the cantina, she wolfed down a sandwich and quickly went back to her lab. When she reached it, she stopped, and scowled. “Dr. Astrauckas I have told you a thousand times to stay out of my lab and that your ideas are much too unethical for the ideals of Overwatch. I have told you this, Strike Commander Morrison has told you this,” she snapped at the man that stood over her desk.   
He looked at her calmly, “Dr. Ziegler, it has been a while, how fares your research?” he said cooly. She didn’t like him the moment she laid her eyes on him. He looked as if was always hiding something behind those dark eyes, it was unsettling.  
“Fine, now leave, you are not welcome here. I’ll give security an earful if I catch you here again!” she stepped away from the door so he could pass, he just gave her a cold gaze and stepped out of the office.  
She sighed and shook her head, that man… She was about to head back into the sterile part of her lab where the nanites were waiting when Zhang came in again with Annelise, they looked worried.   
“Dr. Ziegler, there seems to be a bit of a problem in the lobby. Strike Commander Morrison and Commander Reyes are arguing,” Annelise said.  
Angela rolled her eyes, “the way those two have been glaring at each other it’s no wonder they’re finally fighting,” she said dryly.  
“But Doctor, they have guns, and quite a few other people…” Zhang gulped.  
Angela stopped, “that does sound like trouble, Annelise please retrieve my Caduceus staff from the lab, I’m getting into my Valkyrie suit. I get the feeling there will be injuries,” she said calmly while going to the changing room.  
“Yes Doctor,” Annelise said.  
Angela got into the changing room, taking her clothes off and getting into the dresser. She zipped up the suit that went under the Valkyrie and let the machine help her put it on. When the neural interface connected, she felt a little sting in her brain, it always did that. She equipped her sidearm, she hoped she didn’t need to use it… It was just loaded with charges that would stun someone for a few hours.  
She stepped out of the room, Annelise gave her the Caduceus, “danke Annelise, now both of you head home, and tell all the other doctors to do so too until I call them back. I’m getting a very bad feeling from this,” she said with a tremor and headed for the door. The next thing she could remember was a blinding, white flash.

Angela’s head was pounding, and something felt weird about her gut. She coughed a bit at the dust billowing around and tried to sit up, only to find she was pinned to the floor by a long metal rod. She stared at it, it went straight through… She should be dead. It was dark, only lit by a faint light coming through crack in the wall that made the roof of whatever… This was.   
She turned the on lights on her Valkyrie suit. It illuminated her surroundings a bit, her suit was almost completely wrecked, she was amazed the light even worked. She needed to get the rod out, the nanites would do their work. She grabbed it in both her hands, sucked in a huge breath and pulled it out with a sickening slurp. Angela threw the rod away and sat up, the wound already repairing itself.  
The suit had been completely burned away in some parts, some had melted a bit, the wings seemed intact however. She looked around, “hello? Annelise? Zhang?” she called, and got no reply. The area around had been burned, she could still feel the heat from the stone.  
She called for her assistants again and was only met with silence. She began looking around in this small pocket of rubble, then stopped dead, two charred bodies lay on the floor in twisted positions. Angela began shaking, she looked around for her staff, found it scorched but functional and rushed back to the bodies. She tried using it on them, but the Caduceus staff could not find any life forms to stream nanites to.  
She stared at the bodies, feeling sick. The only reason she was alive was because of the Nanites…  
She heard a thump above and the concretes thrown away, folding the pocket with light. “Angela! Du lebst noch!” Reinhardt bellowed, looking relieved to find someone alive, Angela flew to him and looked around at the wreck on the Overwatch Swiss headquarters, there was nothing left…  
Her suit was functional enough to indicate where there were still people buried under the rubble. “Helfen Sie mir hier!” she said while quickly flying to the nearest lifeforms. Reinhardt’s armour didn’t look in much better shape, Torbjörn would have something to say about that, but at least it saved his life. He went to where she pointed to and started lifting up the slates of concrete.   
“Oy! What the bloody hell happened?!” Lena appeared beside Angela suddenly.  
“I don’t know, there was a bright flash and everything was gone,” Angela whimpered, how many people were dead? There were no signs of life where the medical labs had been, there was no one left…  
“You alright Angy?” Lena asked with concern.   
“No, all the other scientists are gone, the facility is destroyed along with most of my research and so many of my friends. I don’t know what to do,” she sobbed, Lena put a hand on her shoulder.  
“H-hey, cheer up love. Your scanners say there are still some people who are alive right? Let’s try to help them,” she said in a shaky voice, looking surprised by Angela’s grief. It was true Angela rarely showed any signs of grief on the field, she always reserved it for later, keeping it to herself. Lena was right though, she needed to push the grief back for later, like she usually did.  
Reinhardt had managed to get to the next sign of life, it was Winston, he was trapped in his small lab he had in the basement, he always did experiments in a reinforced room. Saved his life certainly.  
Reinhardt cleared the entrance of rubble and Winston instantly rushed out, “what happened?!” he asked immediately.   
“We don’t know, there was an explosion is all I can tell you,” Reinhardt told him with a shrug.  
“There are more over there,” Angela told them and flew off to the next area. The vital signs were so weak, they probably wouldn’t make it in time.  
Winston helped Reinhardt lift the blocks this time, they uncovered two badly burned bodies. Angela’s stomach clenched, Reyes was still holding his gun, and so was Morrison, did they have something to do with this? She heard helicopters in the distance, the UN has been looking for scapegoats…  
“Reinhardt, take them to my lab in Wattwil, make sure you’re not seen,” she ordered the big German soldier, he gave her a questioning look, but fetched them from the rubble and fled the scene.   
Angela looked around, she could only detect one more person. “Follow me, there’s one person left over there,” she said and flew off, she started lifting blocks up herself, she didn’t know where she found the strength. She felt so incredibly weak and tired. Probably because of the amount of damage the Nanites had to fix. If she hadn’t had them, she’d be lying with Annelise and Zhang in that dark pocket…  
All the research she had to create those was gone too, it took her years, she’d never be able to recreate it.  
Something sliced through the concrete block, Angela stepped away as Genji came out of the rubble. “Dr. Ziegler, it is good to see you are alive. What exactly happened? All I remember is getting knocked off my feet,” he said.   
“There was an explosion, no one knows what caused it,” she told him. He looked around the place, Angela could tell he was shocked even with the impassive faceplate he had.   
“Genji, are you alright? Have any of your life support systems been damaged?” she asked worriedly, he seemed fine, a little dent in the plate armour of his arm.  
“No, I am fine Dr. Ziegler. You on the other hand, do not look well,” he said.  
“I’m alright. Genji what are you doing here? You left Overwatch a while ago,” Angela asked him.  
“I wished to speak to you actually, it’s been a very long time since we have. But it seems I came at an inopportune time,” he said while looked at the rubble.   
A ripped flag with the Overwatch logo was still flapping in the wind, debris was strewn all across the valley where they had made their HQ. Helicopters were flying in and cars were coming down the road. Rescue workers, ambulances, but there was no one left to rescue.  
“They will have questions, we should go to them.” Lena and Winston were already heading toward them, so she followed.   
When she reached them, Lena was in the process of trying to tell the Swiss authorities that there was a big explosion. Angela would have laughed at her antics if it weren’t for the situation they were in currently.   
“Lena, what are you doing?” Angela asked her.  
“Well you and Reinhardt are the ones who speak German. I’m trying to explain what happened, but they’re just looking at me weirdly. All I know in German is guten tag, auf wiedersehen, and küchenschrank,” she said in her usual very expressive manner.  
“Lena, you realise they speak english right? And why in the world would you specifically know the word for kitchen cupboard?”   
“Oh… Well sorry about that lads,” Lena awkwardly rubbed the back of her head.  
“Ist sie mit Overwatch?” an officer asked.  
“Jah,” Angela sighed.  
“So what exactly happened? Whatever happened here caused a minor earthquake in Zurich,” the lead officer asked. Angela began explaining that she heard there was a scuffle between Morrison and Reyes in the lobby, she started going down to make sure no one was injured and the explosion happened.  
“None of you know what happened?” the officers asked.  
“Nein, all I can tell you is that it originated somewhere in the labs, and it was very, very hot,” she told them, she was getting more miserable by the minute, but Morrison and Reyes were still in need of assistance, she had to wrap it up quickly here.   
“Are you the only survivors?” the officer asked.  
“Nein, Reinhardt Wilhelm also survived, but has gone to Wattwil where I have my personal lab, he was injured,” she lied, she didn’t want to, but she had to.   
“Did he have any idea what could have caused this?”   
Angela just shook her head.  
The officers gave them sympathetic looks, “we’re sorry for your loss. No doubt you must attend to Mr. Wilhelm. I’m sure we can question you all at the police station later,” the interrogator said.  
“Danke, you three follow me,” Angela said to Winston, Lena and Genji.  
“Angy, why did you—”   
Angela threw a sharp look to Lena, she shut her mouth. “Let’s go, I’ll make sure you’re fine too,” she mumbled.

Reyes woke up in agony, he tried to look around, but moving was impossible without another wave of pain. He managed to see Morrison lying on a table beside him, badly burnt. What… Happened? He remembered getting his gun out, then nothing.  
He heard someone beside him, “you’re awake,” a cold voice said.   
“Angela,” he struggled to say in a paper thin voice.  
“Hold still, and don’t talk,” she snapped. She had a needle in her hand, but she looked nervous, “this is going to hurt, a lot, and I’m not exactly sure what’s going to happen, but you’ll live,” she growled and plunged it into his arm.  
There was no pain at first, but it came suddenly like fire, he screamed.

Angela stared as Reyes dissolved into smoke in front of her eyes and try to reform itself, garbled screaming coming from the black mass. What the fuck? This was not supposed to happen! It’s like it’s dissolving him and trying to put him back together at the same time!   
Reinhardt and Winston rushed in. “What is going on? What is that?” they stared at the mass of smoke, Angela ran to her computer simulators and put a sample of the Nanites in the scanner.   
“Someone has been in here and has tempered with the nanites!” she snapped, who could have been here? The scan revealed the nanites were unstable, she had no such sample in her own lab! She’d never even seen such technology! Dr. Astraukas, he theorised about using nanites as weapons… She smashed her first on the table, denting it.  
She quickly went back to Reyes, “Gabriel, if you can hear me, concentrate on my voice! You need to put yourself back together!” she called.  
“That’s Gabe?” Lena rushed in too.  
“Gabriel, you can control it! The Nanites obey what you say! Just calm down!” Angela desperately tried to make him solidify again. “Scheisse!” she snarled, she had an airtight chamber…  
She pushed the bed into it, the smoke seemed to follow the origin point, whatever that was. She sealed the chamber.  
“Angela, was zur hölle ist passiert?” Reinhardt demanded.  
“I injected him with Nanites to heal him, almost like my Caduceus. But something went wrong, someone has tampered with the sample I had in here. He’s regenerating and disintegrating at the same time.” She was already at her computer trying to find a solution. Something to stabilise him, it wouldn’t be perfect, but it was better than nothing. She was glad she got a 3D gel printer lately, but she still wished Torbjörn were here to help with the electrical part. “Reinhardt, holen Torbjörn!” she snapped the big German soldier. He nodded and got out of the lab.  
“What about Torbjörn?” Winston asked.  
“I need him to create something to stabilise Gabriel,” Angela replied.  
“What about Jack?” Lena inquired.  
“He’s fine, it wasn’t as bad as Gabriel, he can wait a little more,” Angela snapped at them, they backed off.  
Reinhardt came back in, “Torbjörn er sagte, er hier in fünf stunden sein,” he told her. Here in five hours, alright, Gabriel could survive seven hours in that chamber the time they built this thing.  
She already had something that should fit Morrison, she’d been working on it for a while, she never thought it would be used for this. The mask would help him breathe and see, his eyes had been nearly incinerated too. She fetched it from the shelf where it rested. She’d patched him up already with the Caduceus, but most of his face had been burnt off, so it wasn’t perfect. She placed the mask on his face. Then went back to her computer and started making the stabiliser.

Morrison woke up with a headache. He groaned and tried to sit up, but everything in him complained, so he flopped back into the bed. “Jack, you’re awake. It’s been a day,” Angela said, her voice was hostile, she sounded angry.   
“What happened?” he asked.   
“I don’t know Jack, you tell me, you and Gabriel were fighting when the explosion happened,” she stood over him, a scowl on her face.   
“Explosion? What are you talking about?” He tried sitting up again, then saw a shadow come up behind her. He stared at it, an ivory white face stared down at him.   
Angela turned to look at him, “Gabriel, are you feeling better?” she asked it.   
“What did you do to me?” The voice that came from the shadow was deep and rasping.  
“Someone was in here and tampered with the nanites I injected into you. Right now the only thing keeping you together is the mask. I know it hurts, but don’t take it off,” she told it. Smoke billowed around the shadow, Angela seemed to get nervous. “Gabriel, calm down.”   
“Calm down!? You turned me into this… I don’t even know what I am!” he snarled. Gabriel? What the hell…  
He turned his face to Morrison, “what did you do?! Why did HQ explode!?” he yelled.  
“HQ exploded? Where is everyone, who survived?” Morrison sat up this time, his heart hammering.  
“Winston, Reinhardt, Lena, Genji and I are the only ones that survived the explosion,” Angela choked out. She turned away, “you two better stop this stupid fight immediately. Because something caused the explosion, and there is no way it wasn’t related to your fight!” she snapped. Morrison looked at her, all the medical staff too. No wonder she was pissed.  
“Angela, turn me back!” Reyes snapped.  
“I can’t, I don’t know how to,” she growled while going to her computer.  
Reyes seemed to dissolve into smoke and reappear behind her, he put his arm on her shoulder. Angela turned to look at him and became pale as a ghost, then collapsed.   
Morrison got off the table in a hurry, almost collapsing himself. “Angela!” he called. Reyes had stepped away from her, looking shocked.  
Morrison crouched beside her and checked her pulse, then looked at Reyes in shock. “She’d dead! Gabriel what did you do?!” he snapped.  
“I don’t know, I just touched her shoulder,” Reyes rasped.  
Angela gasped and sat up, rubbing her shoulder where Reyes had touched her. “Was zum teufel!” she exclaimed, Morrison glanced back to where Gabriel had been, but he was gone.  
“Angela, are you alright?”  
“Ya, where is Gabriel?” She stood up and looked around.  
“I don’t know, he was here a second ago,” Morrison told her.  
He helped her up, “go back to bed, you’ve got a way to go before you can really recover,” she mumbled.   
Lena poked her head in, “Jack! You’re awake!” she said and rushed to give him a hug, he grunted as she smashed into him. She quickly let go and looked around, “where’s Gabby?”   
“Gone,” Morrison croaked.  
“What do you mean he’s gone?”  
“He just disappeared.”  
Lena gave him a sceptic look, then Angela nearly fainted again.  
“Angy! What’s wrong love?” Lena asked urgently.  
“Nothing, I’m fine,” Angela quickly said, straightening.  
“You haven’t slept since the explosion. Go to sleep, there’s no use tiring yourself out like this. Winston and I can take care of Jack,” she said. Both Morrison and Ziegler gave her a suspicious look. “Oh don’t look at me like that.”


End file.
